Weekly Capsule Reviews: 02/07/2017

Demanding respect before track one and before it’s even warranted, this hip-hop conglomerate works on so many levels. The production is clear and concise, not necessarily clean—the beats and percussion cut through the mixes incredibly—check the drum work on the opener “HEAT” and the swirly malcontent “BUMP”. SATURATION isn’t hiding anything, thankfully—personal lessons which can be attributable to any of us (“I gotta get better at being me (Being who I am)”), speaking your mind when the powers that be don’t want it (“Oh, don’t say that”), having a safety net if and when it all goes to shit (“When this ends/At least I’ll have a reason to live”), and being you at this current moment (“Today imma be whoever I wanna be”). A cadre as laid-back as their tunes suggest and as sage-like as their words prognosticate. (9/10)

Roger Waters: is this the life we really want? [Columbia, 02/06/2017]

To think that Roger Waters never cares about the human condition is to not think at all. In the age of social justice through art, Waters throws his hat into the ring with this wake-up call he feels we need and one we didn’t necessarily ask for (but probably need all the same). One he may need to apply to himself, first and foremost. (7/10)

Sexual and inside-or-outside frustrations abound, these indie scenesters sound too much of what we’ve heard before and not enough of what we need now. I’m talking sonics, really, not the fucking of people they don’t like or the cabin fever stuff, even if it is relevant. Production-wise it’s tinny but tightly-compartmentalised enough to shield it from too much sparseness, i.e. “Cherry (Spend Another Day)” into “Tick”. (6/10)

Staples is getting more saucy in his profession, taking the afflictions he can pinpoint down to a T on board as part and parcel of his pursuit to hip-hop greatness. I think he can make it either way, mind, be it the Prima Donna or Big Fish Theory route. This techno- and dance-rap number is a good starting point for his new “guise”—”guise” may be the wrong word, he’s as real as they come even when veering away from his plagued definition of what hip-hop is when attempting to reform it. (6/10)